Prénatal's largest store up until now has stood in the Alexandrium shopping centre in Rotterdam since 2008. The market leader in the field of baby products for (expectant) young parents has opened a brand-new store with about 1,600m2 of shop floor space for their customers. Prénatal wishes their newest store to speak and feel through the design so that every (expectant) parent feels at home. The store must radiate warmth and security.

Screw-bearing and fast
The unique round walls in the store are striking and have been produced without bracing to the structural ceiling. The returning round shapes symbolise the round shape of the pregnant woman.
Firstly the FAAY walls are placed in a round shape. Then thin plaster sheets are applied to the wall to conceal the joints. The 40 cm wide and 54 mm thick VP54 panels have a top layer of plasterboard and a solid core of flax waste. Prenatal has chosen amongst others for the 54mm thick VP54 wall elements because they are screw-bearing. Very handy for the many displays that are hung on the walls. The assembly speed of the FAAY walls was also of great importance. In total 1253 m2 of VP54 Partition wall was supplied, this was all placed by two men within two weeks! This means of course a considerable saving in the during assembly costs.

Faay Walls: for safety and optimal insulation
When building or rebuilding a school more and more other things come up now that were of less importance in the past. An educational building had only brick walls in the past. Nowadays increasingly higher demands are made on the walls as a consequence of various safety measures. Therefore more and more knowledge is required when choosing the correct wall. Faay Vianen B.V. can tell you, the customer, everything about the current legislation and they carry an extensive product line which offers sufficient choice for any building. To give you good examples of several important facts, we will look at the new buildings for the Nova College in Hoofddorp, The Netherlands. The various parties involved speak of their experiences with Faay during the realisation of this school.

Flexibility
For thirty-five years this family company has produced wall systems made from flax waste and plasterboard. Faay complies with all the Building Decree demands with their extensive assortment whereby the very high standards that are set on the walls in respect to sound proofing, fire resistance, environment and flexibility are also reached. This last factor in particular is of increasingly greater importance because the market is demanding more and more user and processing friendly products with flexibility being considered very important. Jan Verbeek, facility manager at the Nova College endorses the importance of this. “Modern education is increasingly on the move and we want to have room for this renewal in our new building. The old methods of classical education hardly exist anymore. The present teacher is becoming increasingly like a coach and the rooms in which the teaching takes place require more and more adaptations which are possible in the short term. One year we need a large classroom, the next year a small classroom is sufficient. This also depends of the composition of the groups and can differ each school year. With the option of moving the walls, we can respond to this perfectly.

Robust and chip-proof
According to the facility manager the Faay walls are exceptionally well-made and the decision to purchase them was made with the architect and building supervisor.
Cor Ursem from Helix has often worked with Faay in the role of sub-contractor and once again the positive experiences of the past were repeated during the building of the Nova College. “They are very sound walls, the only disadvantage being that they are quite heavy due to the material they are made from; the panels have a solid core consisting of compressed flax waste. But the weight demonstrates the strength of this product; the panels are solid and therefore very strong.”
The architect, Mr. Klein Goldewijk from Plan Architekten, also reinforces Mr. Ursem's version. “They are indeed heavier because Faay wall panels, framework, insulation and final lining are all in one, but the ingenious system makes them much quicker to install. Everything was installed without problem during construction. Nova College wanted strong materials to be used. This is an absolute necessity in modern education. Faay wall panels have a solid core, as a result of which heavy objects can be fixed to it anywhere. For instance you have to have flexibility when hanging up clothes racks and blackboards. The people from Faay have produced a perfect product that is exceedingly suitable for many schools.”

Legislation
This school has made use of Faay walls in most of the classrooms. This includes the practical rooms where there is more chance of noise nuisance than from rooms where only theory is taught.
Jan van der Laan: “Current legislation and specific demands by the Fire Service contribute to the fact that we have to pay more and more attention to things like insulation and fire-resistance. This is very well regulated in the walls from Faay. Not unimportant is the fact that all Faay wall panels are delivered on time and in accordance with the agreement. That can sometimes be different.”

We can safely say that the experiences of the Nova College and the reputable companies involved in the construction of the school were good. Faay's many years of experience have lead to their successful strategy, in which simplicity and quality take centre stage. The systems can be built quickly and the stability and safety are absolutely guaranteed. If you would like more information you may contact us at the address below.

Now that the principle of sustainability is penetrating even further into building, energy conserving construction is becoming increasingly more important. The W’all-in-One® panels from Faay give high thermal insulation with little loss of space. The special profiles prevent thermal bridges and thermal leakage from between the seams. They are designed so that the cavity is well ventilated and also make very speedy installation possible.

FAAY PG retention wall:

• complete system where the foil is as applied standard, ensures fewer failure costs
• the U-value of the whole construction is increased by 1,75 (W/m2K) through reflective action of the foil
• provides better thermal insulation with a smaller layer, saves up to 50% of the space
• no thermal bridge or heat leakage
• unaffected by moisture
• simple detailing, very quick assembly (0.25 mu/m2)
• lightweight, therefore
• easy to handle
• any finish possible
• attractively priced
• sustainable and recyclable
• complies with the
• Building Decree demands
• KOMO certified

Saving valuable space
A well insulated house saves heating costs and also contributes positively to decreasing CO2 emissions. You get maximum thermal insulation with minimum wall thickness with a FAAY W’all-in-One retention wall (PG40, PG50, PG60 and PG70)! The PG panel consists of a combination of EcoTherm HR-insulation® bonded to a 9.5 mm thick plasterboard sheet. The insulating panel in combination with wooden profiles and an insulating assembly profile gives a high thermal insulation value of U-value 0,35 with a minimum wall thickness of 60 mm. HR-insulation® achieves very high insulation values even in very small thicknesses. You can save 50% (!) compared to traditional retention walls made with mineral wool. In other words, FAAY PG panels with HR-insulation® are half as thick as traditional systems, which mean that the final available net floor space is larger.

HR insulation®: very fireproof!
HR-insulation® also has a number of extremely valuable properties in respect of fire. It contributes minimally to the development of smoke in the case of fire, in comparison to other insulation foams. It is as good as inflammable, it does not drip and has a very low smoke number <1m1 (S1). HR-insulation® is therefore an extremely safe insulation material that contributes greatly to the fire-proofing of buildings and homes. And speaking of safety, working with HR-insulation® not cause skin irritation!

Insensitive to damp
HR-insulation® is not only unaffected by fire, but also by damp. Applying an additional damp proofing foil is therefore unnecessary; every FAAY PG retention wall is already sufficiently damp proof due to the aluminium coating applied to the HR-insulation®. The U-value of the whole construction is increased by 1,75 due to the reflective working of the foil. Insulation of the outer walls of older houses is possible without demolishing the existing wall construction with this combination.

No thermal bridge, no heat leakage!
The well thought-out design and construction of the connecting rails prevents heat leakage from the seams between the panels. Because the screws in the connecting strip are covered up and do not lie on the surface, they do not form thermal bridges. The PG connecting rails, the ones with insulating foam as well, also allow the panels to slide into each other without thermal leakage. In short, correct assembly with an optimal result is a piece of cake!

Besides W’all-in-One® panels including rebate there are also W’all-in-One® panels which have straight edges instead of profiled longitudinal, the W’all-in-One® basic panels.

You fix them using FAAYFOAM, a one-component adhesive foam, directly onto the back construction, without an air cavity. When the surface is suspended or sloping and very wet 5 mechanical points should be installed per sheet.

Ecobuild 2010
Tuesday 02 till Thursday 04 March.
Ecobuild & Futurebuild is the biggest event for sustainable design, construction and the built environment in the world and in 2009 will attract over 800 exhibitors and in excess of 30,000 visitors. Synonymous with innovation, Ecobuild is the event that suppliers of sustainable construction products, materials and services choose to make contacts with specifiers, to introduce new concepts and launch new products.
Earls Court, London
United Kingdom

Our office will be closed between Christmas and New Year's day; Friday December 24th till January 1st. Monday the 4th of January we are ready to oblige.

You can still send us a fax +31 (0)347-377940 or an e-mail info@faay.com, we’ll address all inquiries and issues upon our return on Monday January 4th.

Good tidings we bring, to you and your kin.
Faay Vianen B.V. wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!